Miscellanea - Rubrica d'attualita`

In recent response to anti-defamation complaints, HBO spokesperson Michelle Boas noted that the cast of "The Sopranos" "consists almost entirely of Italian-Americans" who surely would not take part in a TV series "that disparages their heritage." She isn’t the first to make this disarming observation, nor is "The Sopranos" the only instance toward which the same observation has been made. It could and has been regularly applied in defense of the countless mob-themed movies and TV programs that have appeared in merciless succession over the past decades with Italian American on the credit scroll.

And it’s an effective defense. What ethnic or racial group would willingly, if not anxiously, promote self-destructive stereotyping? It’s difficult to imagine, for instance, someone like Steven Spielberg routinely and purposefully producing film after film in which Jewish characters are depicted as unscrupulous slumlords or corrupt financiers, or Bill Cosby creating a sitcom about African American welfare queens. Native American actors have long made it known that they will only accept roles that promote honorable and dignified depictions of their people. No Hispanic actor has built a career around his portrayals of a gangbanger or drug lord. Are we to expect less from Italian American actors, producers, directors, and writers?

It’s always been an argument that’s difficult for Italian American anti-defamation activists to answer. And now it’s become even more difficult, thanks to the National Italian American Foundation and the much publicized honoring of Robert De Niro at its 27th Anniversary Gala banquet.

From 1968, when he played the part of fictitious Italian American pornographer Sam Nicoletti in "Sam's Song" to his latest, second round performance as fictitious mob chief Paul Vitti in "Analyze That", De Niro has consistently and without exception taken roles or assumed a direct hand in producing or directing films that associate Italian Americans with violence (like wife-beater Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull") and/or criminality (The Godfather series, "Mean Streets", "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight", "The Untouchables", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "A Bronx Tale" & "Witness To The Mob").

In fact, his filmography will not reveal a single instance in which an Italian American character or the surrounding plot is not tainted by violence or criminality. If De Niro isn’t a prime specimen for the cause of our "image problems", I’d like to know who is.

But now, courtesy of NIAF, critics of our anti defamation efforts can add a convincing and justifiable supplement to their point. If any of the above-cited productions disparaged the Italian American image, why would De Niro have had a hand in them?…and why would NIAF, a high profile Italian American organization that claims to be the national "voice" of the Italian American community, actually honor him for doing so?

I have no easy answers to that one. No one does. Except, NIAF, of course, and I suspect it has no answers, either. At least no good, credible answers. Unless an answer can be found hidden in the organization’s Mission Statement, which claims that NIAF "monitors the portrayal of Italian Americans by the news and entertainment industries". The pardonable assumption is that NIAF stands on vigilant watch for defamatory depictions of Italian Americans in the various media, and that it objects vigorously to such instances. But that may well be a misinterpretation; an assumption that comes from reading too deeply into the words. In truth, it may be that NIAF simply monitors the portrayal of Italian Americans and hands out an award to the biggest Italian American name, regardless of the extent he or she may have contributed to the ongoing brutalization of our collective image in popular culture. It did so in the past, after all, bestowing similar honors upon actors Al Pacino and Danny De Vito, despite the many unflattering depictions of Italian American characters upon which both men have structured their careers.

If any easy answer is provided at all by this, it’s strictly to the question of why the very broadly defined Italian American "anti defamation movement" continues to languish …failing not only to eliminate the interminable succession of hostile depictions on stage, screen and print, but also to induce equal time for positive Italian American images for the simple sake of balance. And one, big reason why is the utter lack of cohesion, consensus, and unity of purpose among the many Italian American groups that claim to be fighting for the cause.

By honoring De Niro, one of the leading perpetrators of the Italian American mobster image, NIAF has underscored this lack of unity. But it’s also done much more. It has arrogantly disregarded and neutralized the efforts of those of us who have long objected to De Niro’s extensive list of offenses. It has inadvertently endorsed those offenses, since the actor can hardly be separated from his work, thereby sacrificing all credibility to its pretense of being an anti-defamationist organization. And it has freely handed plenty of ammunition to those who dismiss sincere Italian American anti-defamationists as a hypersensitive minority. Thanks loads, NIAF.